Advent

Jess: In keeping with the holiday theme, we're going to talk about the wonderful season of Advent this week. For those of you who don't know, Advent is the first season in the church year. It's the four weeks leading up to Christmas, when we prepare for Christ's coming, not just as the baby Jesus but also his future return. 

I'm a big fan of Advent. I love blue, so the colors in the sanctuary always make me happy. I love the songs we get to sing (particularly O Come, O Come Emmanuel). I enjoy lighting the Advent wreath. Yet Advent, despite all its glorious awesomeness, is a pretty tricky season. Advent is decidedly NOT Christmas. Each year, pastors of churches around the globe try to remind themselves and their churches that Advent is not Christmas. That's why our hymnals have both Advent and Christmas songs. That's why we have blue, not white. 
 
Yet the rest of the U.S. has been talking about Christmas since before Thanksgiving. How do we avoid falling into the Advent-as-Christmas trap? I'll admit that I start listening to my Christmas music on the first Sunday in Advent. That's my cue that it's okay. Sure, I could feel superior to other people *cough* Wes *cough* who had been listening to Christmas music for weeks already. But in a way, I'm doing the same thing. I'm ignoring Advent and skipping right to Christmas. Yes, some of the music on my iPod that's labeled "Christmas" is really for Advent, but that doesn't change it. How am I preparing for Christ's coming? What am I doing?
 
I preached a couple of weeks ago, and the main message of my sermon was that Advent isn't just about the decorations, the present buying, or the cookie baking. It isn't even about reflecting on Jesus' coming into the world so many years ago as a baby. We're also supposed to be preparing for his return. In this way, Advent is very much like the rest of our church seasons: we are simultaneously celebrating something that happened long ago AND celebrating/preparing for something that is happening or will happen. Lent is about remembering Jesus' death and reflecting on our part in that death. Easter is about celebrating Christ's resurrection and anticipating the day when death will be no more. Pentecost commemorates the Spirit's coming upon the disciples and its continued presence today. So Advent makes sense alongside these other seasons. Jesus came into the world as a tiny, helpless baby. But he's also going to return triumphantly. And that's a lot to celebrate.


Wes: I love Christmas songs. If I were allowed to, I would sing Christmas songs all year 'round. But my wife is sometimes mean and won't let me do fun things. I forgive her, though. I mean, it is in the Christmas spirit to forgive, right?


This Advent, I've tried to focus all of my sermons on the prepare idea. We are celebrating the birth of Jesus, but we are also preparing ourselves and the world for Christ's return. This is not always a nice lesson to hear, for as the rest of the world is singing about how it's the most wonderful time of the year, the church is recognizing that our world has not been wonderful for a long, long time and that we as the Body of Christ have our work cut out for us if we really are to join in on the task of seeing "Thy Kingdom come." 


I heard a really cool sermon on Advent by one of my fellow seminarians. She gave a brief history of Advent in it. I had no idea that Advent began as a "second Lent." People would give things up for Advent just like they would for Lent. They would fast. They would spend extra time in prayer. All in preparation and expectation for the coming of Christ. For us, it seems like it is completely the opposite, now. We pile things on, go off of our diets for that one extra Christmas cookie, cut back on tithing so we have enough for all the presents we need to buy... 


I think we've missed the point somewhere along the lines. 


Now, I don't think that Advent always has to be doom and gloom and darkness, but I do think that it should be a time of reflection, of intentionally working to right our hearts for the coming of Christ, so that we--and the world--are ready for when He does come back. 


I say this knowing full well that I am a culprit of culture as well. In the words of Relient K, "I'm part of the problem, I confess, but I gotta get this off my chest." And now that I've said it, I'm done. Soap box away. 


On a different note, it needs to snow up here. I moved up North for a winter wonderland (that seminary thing was a by-product), and we might as well be in Texas. Well... except for the fact that I'm not in flip-flops... But still! 


See you next time! You stay classy, World Wide Web!




-jess and wes